The present invention relates to a structure of a rear portion of a car body in which an opening portion is provided on a partition panel for partitioning a passenger room from a trunk room at the rear of the car body.
Concerning the car in which the above structure is employed, two car types are provided. One car type is a so-called trunk-through type car in which a passenger room and a trunk room are communicated with each other when a seat back of a rear seat is tilted. The other car type is a so-called seat back fixing type car in which a seat back of a rear seat is fixed to a car body.
In order to use the same car body in common for both the trunk-through type car and the seat back fixing type car, a large opening portion is formed on a partition panel. The partition panel includes: a partition front panel which is substantially vertically arranged on the rear side of the seat back; and a partition rear panel which is substantially horizontally arranged and extended from an upper end portion of the partition front panel to a rear side of the car. The opening portion described above is formed on the partition front panel.
In the seat back fixing type car described above, the opening portion is not utilized. Therefore, it is desired to enhance the rigidity of the rear portion of the car body by reducing a deterioration of the rigidity which is caused due to the opening portion formed on the partition front panel. On the periphery of the opening portion, a partition board made of resin is fixed by means of clipping so as to close the opening portion. However, it is impossible to enhance the rigidity of the rear portion of the car body by the partition board.
Therefore, in order to enhance the rigidity of the rear portion of the car body, in a first related-art, a circumferential edge portion of a reinforcing plate made of metal for closing the opening portion is welded and fixed to a floor panel or a rear deck. Further, in a second related-art, end portions of an X-shaped reinforcing bar are fixed to the car body in the longitudinal direction of the car with bolts (see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-94482A
However, according to the first related-art, the reinforcing plate is so large that the car body becomes heavy. According to the second related-art (which is described in the Patent Document 1), all of the bolt fixing directions of the end portions of the X-shaped reinforcing bar with respect to the car body are the same as the longitudinal direction of the car. Therefore, in a case where a twisting force is applied to the reinforcing bar, the force is shifted from the bolt fixing portion. Accordingly, it is impossible to sufficiently enhance the rigidity.